- Gareth O'Reilly
- Sat, Aug 10 2013
A brace from Rory Patterson to go alongside a Michael Duffy goal was enough to get Derry over the line against UCD on Friday night. The away team never really looked like losing the game and did well to cope with some good UCD play after Samir Belhout pulled one back for the Students early in the second half.
A poor opening fifteen minutes in Belfield it was the home side that had the first real chance on Friday night. That opportunity fell to Cillian Morrison. The ball ended up at the feet of the striker after a complete miss kick from Robbie Creevy. However the striker sliced his shot harmlessly wide of Gerard Doherty's post.
It was all Derry from then on. Ruaidhri Higgins went agonizingly close to putting Derry in the lead after he headed over from a Paddy Kavanagh cross.
Derry continued to pile on the pressure and would have gone in front if it wasn't for the timely intervention of Gareth Matthews. A chance presented itself to David McDaid after David O'Connor was dispossessed on the half way line by man of the match Rory Patterson. The talented front man then slid McDaid through only for Matthews to get a last ditch challenge in before McDaid had a chance to pull the trigger.
Just four minutes later Derry were in front and it was Patterson who got it. The UCD back line appeared to switch off momentarily and against a team of Derry's quality they were always going to be punished. Michael Duffy slipped a pass in behind the UCD defence to allow Patterson to blast past McGinley.
We didn't have to wait long for the second goal of the game as it came less than two minutes later. Once again it was Patterson who got it. The striker this time managed to beat McGinley at his near post. The UCD defence seemed to still be licking its wounds from conceding the first goal and was therefore slow to close down Paddy Kavanagh on the right hand side of the pitch. The former Shamrock Rovers player then slid the ball across the edge of the box for Patterson to blast home.
UCD did have a great chance to score just before half time as a Sean Russell free kick was met by the head of Robbie Creevy. However Doherty was equal to the header and managed to parry it to safety as Neil Doyle brought the opening half to a close.
Half time substitute Samir Belhout took less than ten minutes to make an impact and it came in the form of a well taken goal. Belhout beat his man down the right hand side of the pitch before cutting into the box and curling one superbly past Doherty.
UCD went close to scoring an unlikely equaliser as Morrison raced clear down the left hand side only to see his shot tipped round the post by Doherty. The corner was cleared but only as far as Craig Walsh who saw his 30 yard effort scrape wide of the Derry City goal with Doherty well beaten.
The game was then put to bed as a contest when Michael Duffy converted Derry's third of the night. Simon Madden was the provider this time as his beautiful cross allowed Duffy to cap off a well worked Derry move.
With UCD beginning to accept that defeat was inevitable the game calmed down with chances hard to come by for both teams although Patterson almost completed what would have been a well deserved hat-trick. The striker turned on the edge of the box before hitting his shot just an inch wide of Mark McGinley's left hand post.
That was the last chance of the game on a good evening of football at Belfield. The final result means that Derry leapfrog Sligo into third position while UCD remained unchanged in 9th place.
UCD: Mark McGinley; Hugh Douglas (Thomas Boyle 66), David O'Connor, Mick Leahy (Samir Belhout 46), Gareth Matthews; Dean Clarke, Robbie Creevy (Barry McCabe 69), Michael Kelly, Craig Walsh, Sean Russell; Cillian Morrison.
Subs Not Used: Gerard Barron, Aymen Ben Mohamed, Gary Burke, Thomas O'Halloran.
Booked: Douglas (48).
Derry City: Gerard Doherty; Simon Madden, Shane McEleney, Ryan McBride, Eoghan Osborne; Paddy Kavanagh, Ruaidhri Higgins, Michael Duffy (Barry McNamee 84), Patrick McEleney; David McDaid (Sean Houston 73), Rory Patterson.
Subs Not Used: Eugene Ferry, Barry Molloy, Mark Griffin, Thomas Crawley, Ryan Curran.
Booked: S McEleney (45), Houston (80), Patterson (90+1).
Referee: Neil Doyle.
Attendance: 243
Man Of The Match: Rory Patterson (Derry City) - He was Derry's bright spark all night and played a vital role in all three of the Candystripes goals.
